from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

adj. (used of persons or behavior) characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Examples

Proclaimed one particularly prosperous-looking woman who floated past our table on the way to raise some boat dealer's bottom line, "It's about time we spent on ourselves again ... being miserly is no fun at all!"

It also clearly illuminates where the line is, and why calling a miserly person a "Jew" is an insult (because the insinuation of miserliness is derogatory) whereas saying Asians like rice is not (because there's no derogatory insinuation).

Though Liverpool have not been what you can describe as miserly in terms of making big signings - the club record fee was broken three times and five purchases in excess of £17m were made - there has always been a sense that the books have needed balancing.

Then there was the case of an aide to the mayor of Washington, D.C., who was required to resign in 1989 after he offended a black colleague by saying he would have "to be niggardly" in dispensing monies from a particular fund, although niggardly comes from a Scandinavian word meaning "miserly" and has nothing to do with the other one.